Gappa the Triphibian Monster (1967)
Apr 26, 2023Japanese Monster Movie
This was a fairly crappy and terrible Japanese monster movie from a rival company seeking to copy the success of Toho's Godzilla films
Nikkatsu
Yuki: Snow Fairy (1981)
Oct 18, 2004Anime/Young Goddess Comes to Earth
A very rare anime film about a fairy who descends to Earth from the heavens and takes the side of downtrodden peasants in standing against a greedy landowner and a demon god
Ju-on: The Grudge 2 (2003)
Feb 25, 2006Japanese Ghost Story
Takashi Shimizu's follow-up to the international hit of Ju-on: The Grudge. These Ju-on films become repetitive after a time but you cannot deny that Shimizu delivers the spooky goods here
Premonition (2004)
Jan 25, 2024Newspaper Headlines That Predict Deaths
Japanese horror film about a professor who receives newspaper headlines that predict deaths before they occur
The Machine Girl (2008)
Jul 19, 2023Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film
Another highly entertaining entry in the Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film about a schoolgirl who seeks revenge with her arm stump replaced by a Gatling gun
L: Change the World (2008)
Jan 19, 2009Death Note Spinoff
Spinoff from the Japanese Death Note films from Ring director Hideo Nakata featuring the weird detective L. L was a scene-stealer but this fails to come up with an interesting enough plot for him
Tokyo Gore Police (2008)
May 19, 2013Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film/Cops vs Bio-Mechanoid Mutants
One among the 00s spate of gonzo Japanese splatter films. The film exists as a series of outlandishly over-the-top and absurdly entertaining splatter and bizarrely cartoonish bio-mechanoid transformation
YatterMan (2009)
May 19, 2011Anime TV Series in Live-Action/Gonzo Giant Robot Heroics
Takashi Miike conducts a live-action adaptation of a 1970s anime tv series with completely madcap results. The effect is like drowning in multi-coloured candyfloss flavoured with LSD
Cold Fish (2010)
Oct 2, 2010Serial Killer Black Comedy
From cult director Shion Sono, a typically bizarre and gore-drenched Japanese black comedy about tropical fish salesmen, serial killings and the reclamation of traditional male pride
Dead Ball (2011)
Jun 23, 2020Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film/Combat Baseball
The Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film is a genre filled with gore, madcap combat moves, bizarre bio-mechanoid transformations. This concerns itself with a game of baseball that has become a blood-drenched combat sport
Yakuza Weapon (2011)
Apr 18, 2024Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film/Yakuza With Cyborg Attachments
Another Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film about a Yakuza heir who is blown apart by rivals and then rebuilt with cyborg attachments
Helldriver (2010)
Jun 16, 2026Gonzo Japanese Zombie Splatter
A mind-bogglingly wacky entry in the gonzo Japanese splatter film featuring a crazed bloodbath as Japan is overrun by zombies. This goes frequently nuts featuring vehicles and plans made up of zombie bodies
The Complex (2013)
Feb 7, 2017Japanese Ghost Story/Haunted Apartment
Hideo Nakata will always be known as the director of the original Ring. Here he revisits the kaidan eiga in the story of a haunted apartment but the show falls apart after a confusing Sixth Sense-type twist mid-film
The Whispering Star (2015)
Feb 17, 2026Intergalactic Package Delivery Android
The very strange Japanese director Shion Sono makes a film about an intergalactic package delivery android, although this is anything but a regular SF film. Filmed in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone.
Before We Vanish (2017)
Jan 27, 2020Japanese Alien Invasion Film
Japan's Kiyoshi Kurosawa is known for his intensely uncanny and bafflingly cryptic horror films. Here he makes an alien invasion film, although a minimalist and very different one that proves quite fascinating